Economic Growth And Standard Of Living Essay Example for Free

Economic Growth And Standard Of Living Essay To understand any topic it is always important to take note of the key words. In this case I am going to first pin point the key words. Economy in a lay man’s language is the management of finances or care in the use of resources. Others may say it is a system of producing and managing resources. This then puts everyone in light that economic growth as the increment of management and use of resources like finances, wealth and so on. Standard of living can measured by types of living styles that is quality (living in high standards and able to afford especially the basic needs) or of no quality that is (poor quality most especially not being able to afford the basics in life and probably living below the poverty line) (Elkington J. , 1974); Economic growth is seen on both extremes by different individuals that is the best or worst and the sides of it depending on how it has affected their standards of living. The way it affects the standards of living in the present and how it affected in the past is very different from the way it will be tomorrow. Its further expansion today has also affected different individuals differently. Others have seen it to have caused more harm than good while others see it to have caused more than more good than harm and this second group appears to be the majority hence increasing the gap between these two groups of people (The World Business Council for sustainable). Nevertheless economic growth to a larger extent is seen as a valuable vehicle for raising standards of living in aspects like social life, political aspects and even psychological aspects. Since time immemorial, everyone valued a high standard of living and every member of the family and society worked toward achieving more and more resources so as to live a better life. Men, women and children for instance did farming and cultivated food crops for home consumption. This was in the past before the innovation of cash economy. In that era, the three fundamental processes used in economic growth were identification, cooperation and imitation Aragon-Correa and Sharma S. , 2003 and Dunphy D, Griffiths A, and Benn S. , 2000). Today or presently it is true that further economic expansion has been seen. This is why the world today bases on the mechanism of â€Å"survival for the fittest†. This mechanism is mainly trying to see that everyone actively participates towards economic growth and hence improving their standards of living. So people have just deliberately decided to be lazy and they are the same people complaining of economic growth as unnecessary. They have given others the opportunity to even grow richer as they (the lazy ones) become poorer. It is important to note that as the world economy grows, the standard of living also grows. It does not remain stagnant hence the capacity of manpower in the society should also increase so as to match the economic growth and avoid lagging behind. It is done in this manner, and then the difficulty of economic growth affecting the standards of living presently will not be felt (World Economic Forum). It is seen clearly that as world’s life proceeds, very many aspects change. For instance, the population of South Africa in early 1930’s cannot match or be the same as the population today. Today’s population has definitely outgrown the one of 1930’s hence the economic growth will remain a valuable vehicle for raising and not degrading the standards of living if we check into issues like education, population control, employment especially skilled manpower in professional fields, etc. good example here is population control. In the past population was not as big and huge as today hence the issue of poor standard of living was not intensely felt. Today the population has double even tripled in specific places. This then has led to shortage of land, food, employment, schools hence giving the first priorities to the rich who can scramble. This then has led to high illiteracy, creation of slums, high crime rates. So if population standards are controlled by example introducing and sensitizing people on the issue of using contraceptives, keeping people in schools especially women who can go up to high institutions of learning hence making them concentrate in books and by the time they think of marriage, they are old enough not to give birth to too many children as compared to when they are out of school making them marry early and bearing many children. The issue of education, population control will improve both the economic growth and standards of living in the long run (World Economic Forum). Another very crucial thing is and that we in the world today cannot do without is the fact that of the machineries invention and innovation. This was not in the past, but today it has actually improved our majority standards of living. It is a fact that even the poor man at least can afford some kind of machinery for instance he or she may not afford a television set but may afford a small radio of about three dollars. This is because it is extremely important to listen to and know what is going on in the world through that small radio an issue that was not there in the past though people at that time were still comfortable because these machineries were not there. This hence is seen that economic growth is vats and can accommodate everyone. This means that despite the economic growth, there are still some cheap commodities that can be afforded by the low level people so as to enjoy their lives. The economic growth is also seen to incorporate the non professional activities for example engaging in vegetable sales, shoe shining, house helps and so on. Not everyone has a professional duty like teaching; nursing, etc yet even the non professional people must live and enjoy their lives. By doing their non-professional duties, they also actively participate in economic growth. For instance, a person doing the shoe shine job will have to buy the shoe polish hence contributing to the economic growth of the shoe polish company. On the other side of the economic growth, which is also to a lesser extent, I see its further expansions to be unnecessary and especially when its undesirable effects are considered from a true – cost perspective rather than form a true – benefit perspective (World Economic Forum). As I have discussed in the previous paragraphs, everyone cannot be the same in terms of gifts and talents, in brain, strength, authority and understanding. There must be both low and high level people. This also applies in the standard of living which is determined by the economic growth. For sure it is true that it affects people differently. In the real world, today, this economic growth has made the rich richer and the poor poorer. This hence has made the poor group to look at economic growth as an enemy. This is mainly because the poor have not been given a chance to enjoy the changes that come with economic growth. For instance, most of the poor people are not computer literates hence when employment opportunities come up, the first requirement is computer literacy which completely excludes them from the race even when one had the potential of doing that job. These computer courses are mainly provided in the schools of the rich (International Chamber of Commerce, Business charter for sustainable Development, 1990). Economic growth has been accompanied by a lot of bureaucracy. The rich people have taken the top levels and the poor people the low levels. It becomes very difficult for the one at the bottom to reach the one at the top. Before one reaches to the top from the bottom he or she must have used a lot of time, some little finances so as to get favours fro above. Those favours mainly may not be there because the ones at the top always are interested in doing things that favour and benefit them especially when it comes to finances thus rendering the poor back to or get stuck in poor living standards (World commission for Environment and development, 1987). When it comes to distribution of resources, it is clearly seen that some regions in countries are not considered or given priorities. This then instead of improving their standards of living through economic growth, they continue to deteriorate. A good example is usually when the politicians especially the presidents in the third world countries who give priorities to their regions of origin neglecting the other regions. This is even worse when a certain region has got no representative in the government hence making them curse the economic growth (World Economic Forum). In summary, I have discussed that economic growth is for raising the living standards to a larger extent in that †¢ It helps improve the capacity of manpower thus encouraging participation to improve the living standards Because everyone wants to olive in a good standard population will be controlled and hence more savings for more economic growth. †¢ Education is seen as an important factor leading to both economic growth and standard of living though in the long run †¢ Employment opportunities which leads to earnings and savings hence considering both the economic growth and living standards as valuable †¢ Economic growth being vats tha t is accommodating both the rich and the poor through machinery. An example is if one cannot afford a television then he r she can buy a radio which he or she can afford to listen to hence seen as improved his or her standards of living. †¢ it has too much bureaucracy making low level people not reach the top people †¢ Top people are seen as selfish and just for issues that benefit them especially finances. †¢ Poor people not given a chance to enjoy changes that come with economic growth for example computer literacy which is mainly taught in schools for the rich. In conclusion, economic growth is important to our living standards but can be disastrous especially when others are deprived of it. This ends up creating gaps between people hence leading to other social problems. There is a low level of economic growth rate. Economists’ researchers have maintained that in order for economy to realize good standard of living 10% increase in her economy is necessary, she must invest 10 % of her national income. Reduce consumption, increase investments or savings at same time reduce the family size children or they end up in vicious cycle of poverty. There is a lot of pressure in terms of provision of social services in un developed world. This leads to difficulty in distributing resources equally. It is also costly because of the large numbers thus social service provision becomes inadequate. It is seen to be affecting the nature of social services for example leading to poor housing and low quality of education.

The City of the Sun :: Essays Papers

The City of the Sun In Tommaso Campanella’s document, The City of the Sun, a new social order is introduced amongst the Solarians. Campanella presents his readers with a utopian society that is ordered by rationality and reason. This ideal visionary is a redeemed world, free from injustice and competition in the market structure. Campanella, however, grew up in a society that was exploited and based on irrational principles. Campanella, therefore, reconstructs a society that operates in opposition to the one that he considers to be corrupt and irrational. The document, The City of the Sun, can be used to critically compare the social and political order that exists today. Moreover, Campanella’s work reveals the weaknesses that exist in today’s society and its structure. One characteristic of this utopian society is its system of meritocracy. In this system, positions of power are determined by one’s ability and excellence; factors such as gender or social class do not result in positions of leadership. For example, leaders and ministers are chosen according to which individuals learn the greatest number of skills and practices them best. Individuals who work extremely hard and acquire knowledge are judged to have the greatest nobility. Moreover, the Solarians have a Prince Prelate called Sun. Sun is elected by knowing a significant amount of information in diverse academic fields. For example, he must know all the mechanical arts and the mathematical, physical, and astrological sciences. In his dialogue, Campanella stresses the importance of acquiring knowledge in this ideal city. He demonstrates this by describing the position of the Prince Prelate: â€Å"Once appointed, his tenure lasts until someone with greater knowledge and greater ability to rule is discovered (Campanella 45)†. Therefore, those who wish to live in great power, must strive for this achievement in the area of academics. Also, ones level of knowledge determines the pursuit of happiness an individual will receive in the city of the Sun. The Solarians are granted the opportunity to alter their status if they desire, and live a life according to their standards. Campanella directly criticizes the society he grew up in by stating in his dialogue, why the Solarians mock the material world for the way it is structured: Thus they laugh at us because we consider craftsmen ignoble and assign nobility to those who are ignorant of every craft and live in idleness, keeping a host of dissolute and idle servants about them to the great detriment of the state (Campanella 43).

Assess the impact of new technologies on the music industry – Discuss the significance and implications of these developments

Over the years, the development of new technology has caused significant changes in the music industry. The presence of radio and digital radio, digital television, mini discs and the Internet has created challenges and opportunities for the BPI (British Phonographic Industry) and RIAA (Record Industry Association of America) alike. Radio works in parallel with the record industry because airplay determines to some extent, the chart position of an artist or group. If chart success is dependent on radio, then radio is an important tool to the music industry. To show just how important, ‘pluggers' are employed to approach disc jockeys to play their bands music for promotion and chart placement. Furthermore, the introduction of digital radio has excluded some of the restrictions of area broadcasting so people have more access to music. This is significant because radio now has a larger audience than before and more people are being influenced. This changes the way music is purchased and determines the success of artists and the record companies. Digital television works in the same way as radio in that the music channels help promote singles through the playing of music videos. Specialized channels and radio stations target specific audiences – this is known as narrow casting – which let every genre of music be heard enabling audiences to make up their own minds about what they like. As homogenous music exists alongside specialist music produced mainly by A and R (Artist and Repertoire), record companies want to target the right audiences for maximum exposure and therefore corresponding sales. For example, the channels ‘MTV Hits', ‘The Box' and ‘Smash Hits† play mostly pop music, whereas channels like ‘Kerrang', ‘Q' and ‘MTV2†³ specialize in alternative and rock music. The Internet has proved to be both helpful and challenging to the music industry. For record companies, it advertises and sells their music and is an easy way for people to purchase singles and albums. The introduction of selling CD's on the Internet has not meant that high-street stores will go out of business as not everyone buys music from their computers. For example younger people do not have credit cards and are therefore not able to buy music on the Internet. Instead, it has provided record companies with another profitable venture, as now there is more access to buy music. The downside of the Internet for the music industry is the emergence of MP3. This compresses material without altering the end product so it can be downloaded onto PC. Many millions of people now download music for free and burn the songs onto a blank disk. This is illegal but available and at present because of the mass numbers of people doing it, the BPI and RIAA cannot stop it from happening There are many arguments in favour of downloading, but the music industry insists outright that it should be banned. Their arguments against file sharing are that it deprives artists (and record companies) of royalties. The money gained from selling music provides an incentive to actually make it – if there is no money then there is no incentive and it will discourage artists from recording music. However, some artists may not consider money to be the main incentive to make music and even record straight to MP3 format. For example, David Bowie, the ‘Beastie Boys' and ‘Muse' do this. Other implications of downloading music are that if profits continue to fall, record companies will take fewer risks and not introduce new bands with different styles of music. This means that music will become even more predictable and formulaic which in turn creates a limited choice for the consumer. They also claim that it could undermine the record industry. The industry does feel threatened as in 1999 two hundred free music websites were shut down. Record companies say that the industry will be weakened because of MP3, and eventually smaller, independent record companies would disappear and again, people's choice in music will be limited. However, it can be argued that through buying albums choice is already limited. File sharing actually allows audiences more freedom to obtain the music that they want to hear, rather than paying for an album and only liking two out of ten songs. Alongside the threat of Internet downloading is the existence of mini disks and mini disk players. This causes a problem for the record industry as people can hold an extensive collection of music from a variety of different genres on one small disk for the price of a blank mini disk rather that a compilation compact disk for about fifteen pounds. The new technologies discussed above have a mixture of positive and negative outcomes for the record industry. They benefit from some – for example radio and digital television, even the Internet, but suffer from other developments such as file sharing. In order to compete with the ever-growing demand for music that is cheap and readily available, then it is advised that the industry make a number of significant changes that will benefit themselves and the consumer.

Eklaboo - 3524 Words

April 14, 2005 NURSING THEORY âž ¢ Why the interest in theory? 1. The no. 1 requisite if we have to be on the level of being a professional. 2. To guide us in how to go about the different nursing actions. 3. It becomes a framework for organizing data. Theory – speculative in nature Nursing Theory – mental conceptualization where the perspective is a nursing aspect - explain describe a particular nursing action - can also predict its effects on clients’ outcome - primary purpose is to generate scientific knowledge - serve several essential purposes 1. Description – clarifying ideas, phenomena, experience or circumstances that are not well understood. E.g. meaning of pain to†¦show more content†¦Organismic Behavior a.2. Man as a System a.3. The energy-matter exchange of man III. The Atomistic Approach Man is viewed as an organism composed of different organ systems each system is composed of organs each organ is made up of tissue cells. The cell is the basic unit of the human body. IV. Holistic Approach (Total) The study of the total behavior of man in relation to society. Stimuli in the environment provide the necessary forces to enable man to demonstrate consciously or unconsciously the nature of his responses the subsequent quality relationship with his environment. Address questions like – How does he cope with stresses? What makes one fail or succeed? V. Human Needs Model Maslow’s framework of basic needs is based on the theory that something is a basic need if its absence results in illness, its presence prevents illness or signals health, meeting an unmet need restores health VI. Man as a Rational Being – The Psychosocial Perspective Man, the psychosocial being is capable of rational, logical thinking most of the time but can become irrational illogical when provoked. His rational side makes him merciful, kind compassionate, while his irrational nature may make him commit criminal acts against another man. According to Travelbee, Man is â€Å"a unique, irreplaceable (cannot be exchanged for